Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at a UNSC Briefing on the Situation in the West Bank
Madam President,
Russia supported the convening of today’s Security Council meeting to discuss the current situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), with a particular focus on developments in the West Bank. We do believe that we must prevent further erosion in international attention to the objective of achieving a just and lasting Middle East settlement, with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict remaining the cornerstone of that settlement. Decades on, this confrontation continues to be the principal source of instability in the region, perpetuating the overall crisis and engendering new hotspots of tension across the broader Middle East.
We thank the Deputy UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Ramiz Alakbarov, and the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, Hanan Suleiman/ We are grateful for their comprehensive briefings on the situation in the West Bank.
We share the grave concerns expressed by the UN representatives. In essence, the West Bank is approaching a point of no return, which may end up with profound destabilization of the military and political situation throughout the region. The reasons behind this dangerous trend are well known – that is, Israel’s creeping expansion in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, escalating settler violence, and the unprecedented tightening of Israeli restrictions on the movement of Palestinians.
Contrary to the position of the overwhelming majority of the international community, West Jerusalem continues its unlawful policy of expanding settlements. Just days ago, the Israeli authorities announced another tender for the construction of more than 600 housing units in the Ramallah&Al-Bireh Governorate. Settler violence has reached alarming proportions, and is being perpetrated not only with complete impunity but, in some cases, even with the acquiescence of the Israeli law enforcement. In late July and early August, a wave of attacks swept through a number of towns: extremists set fire to mosques, vandalized homes and vehicles, and left dozens of people injured. According to open sources, settler violence has reached unprecedented levels: since the beginning of this year alone, there have been more than 11,000 attacks, with over 20 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank killed by Israeli settlers.
At the same time, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have intensified their operations in West Bank towns and refugee camps. These raids are compounded by arbitrary arrests of Palestinians and sweeping restrictions on freedom of movement. We are particularly concerned by the fact that these measures have effectively placed major Palestinian cities under blockade, making even emergency medical services non-operational. We call on Israel to refrain from any unilateral actions, including settlement activities, that may undermine the prospects for the two-State solution. Instead, we urge West Jerusalem to take effective measures to curb settler violence, and to immediately revert to the implementation of the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.
Madam President,
The explosive situation in another part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory – the Gaza Strip – is no less alarming. The practical implementation of the US “peace plan” for Gaza has effectively stalled. It is certainly important that, through the mediation efforts, the large-scale bloodshed in the enclave has been brought to a halt. However, systematic violation of the ceasefire regime, primarily by the Israeli side, persists. This is clearly illustrated by the fatality figures: in less than a year since the formal entry into force of the ceasefire agreement, nearly 1,300 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. According to UNICEF, almost 300 of them were children. This means that over the past 300 days, on average, one child has been killed every day in Gaza at the hands of Israeli military personnel.
Despite this grim reality, over the past several months, a number of Western delegations in this Chamber have laid the blame for the lack of progress on the Gaza peace plan squarely on Hamas. We all remember the repeated calls during Security Council meetings on the leadership of the Palestinian movement to immediately lay down its arms, not to obstruct the work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), and to accept the roadmap proposed by the High Representative of the Peace Council, Mr. Nikolay Mladenov. We sincerely hope that our Western colleagues will demonstrate the same unity and determination vis-à-vis the other party to the conflict, specifically given the fact that West Jerusalem publicly rejected that roadmap while Hamas agreed to the proposed deal.
Madam President,
We have repeatedly stressed that the measure of success for any peace initiative on the Middle East track is the achievement of the principal objective, which is the establishment of a single, independent, contiguous State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, coexisting in peace and security with Israel. Experience of recent years has demonstrated that neither the Palestinian question nor the broader Middle East settlement can be resolved through hasty or ad hoc backroom arrangements. Equally futile are attempts by certain countries to monopolize the role of mediator, especially when that mediator plays exclusively into the hands of only one party to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Under such circumstances, one can hardly expect either justice or the fulfilment of the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.
Nevertheless, there remains an alternative path. Lasting stabilization and positive change in the Middle East can and should be achieved through coordinated international and regional efforts, based on the extensive international legal framework for settlement, with the formula of “two States for two peoples” as its central pillar.
Thank you.
